Job descriptions.

A Passion For Patinas

Furniture Restorer Offers New Life For Antiques

`I have a love for wood," says Craig Hubbard, a furniture refinisher for 17 years. "I think it's something that comes natural. It's something you are born with."

For seven years Hubbard stripped, refinished and repaired furniture part-time for himself and others. He considered his work a hobby. Then he was layed off from his full-time job in the automobile industry. That's when he began thinking of his love of refinishing and restoring furniture as more than a hobby and opened a furniture restoration business, originally housed in the basement of his home.

Though Hubbard already knew a great deal about furniture restoration, he started attending local seminars. His first class was at a finishing touchup school, where he learned about various finishes, chemicals and procedures used in the refinishing process. Hubbard still attends as many classes as possible.

"There are different seminars held by the manufacturers and distributors," Hubbard says, "but you are not only learning about their products but learning what other people in the class have learned. They'll say, `I do it this way.' "

In 1984, after working in his basement for three years, Hubbard and his wife, Jenny, opened C. and J. Refinishing in an industrial area of Schaumburg. Hubbard explained that the decision came one day when he and Jenny looked around and saw other people's furniture, waiting to be refinished or repaired, stored in virtually every room of their house.

Before starting a new restoration project, Hubbard talks with the customer about the antiquity of the piece. Will it be restored using old-fashioned glues? Or can modern glues and procedures be used? Should only wood from the same time period be used in the restoration process? Or can stronger new wood be used and then stained to match the original?

Hubbard listens to customers' suggestions, but he's also happy to interject his own, expert opinions. For instance, no matter how old a piece is, he prefers using new glues because of their holding power and flexibility versus the animal glues used years ago.

But apart from the new glues, the rest of the piece is restored as accurately as possible. If a part is missing, Hubbard goes to the library to find photos and drawings of other antiques from the same era. He then recreates the missing part. Hubbard pores through a multitude of catalogs to choose authentic hardware, leather, and glass.

In an average week, Hubbard restores or repairs one to two pieces of furniture, works on one dining room or bedroom set, and reglues four to eight chairs.

Some customers bring in their furniture and others ask Hubbard to come to their home. On the house visits, he not only gives estimates, but often completes smaller projects, such as minor repairs or touchups on small nicks and scratches.

Sometimes the furniture appears to be broken beyond repair and Hubbard considers these projects a tremendous challenge.

"One of the first pieces I did was an oak side-by-side. That's a secretary with a china cabinet combined. It was in a fire and had some smoke damage," he recalls. "It was in horrendous shape and when we were done it looked great."

Furniture that needs more extensive work goes back to the shop, where it is disassembled and then stripped by hand with a chemical paint and varnish remover. Hubbard doesn't use tanks to strip furniture, he explained, because the soaking can loosen joints or damage the wood. Instead he scrapes and brushes off the old finish. The wood is then neutralized and cleaned with trisodium phosthate, a heavy duty cleaner, which removes any remaining wax residue and paint/varnish remover.

After the piece is stripped, it is allowed to dry for several weeks until all the chemicals have evaporated. Next it is sanded.

"We sand everything," says Hubbard. "We sand the inside of the dresser cabinets, the bottom of the drawers, and the back side. Most shops sand what you see."

When the sanding and all of the repairs are done, the piece is stained.